Traveler: the blood bathed king
by Black fire pheonix
Summary: in a universe of parallel dimensions, evil grows in every corner, and now one man, equipped with supernatural powers, and a knack for trouble, finds himself the unwilling protector of worlds. filled with, action, drama, and...PLEASE JUST READ IT PEOPLE
1. the universe or my fist in your face

Log2: prologue

My name is hidden except to those who I trust. My age varies depending on what dimension I'm located in. you will never find me doing anything suspicious if you ever see me, you will most likely never see me, ever.

The universe is endless, and so are its inhabitants. Just like pie or some other number is endless.

In fact your understanding of what the universe is quite different from the truth. The universe is an expression for all that exists, including the forces that created us. The world in which we come from is part of a dimension. Dimensions are a parallel mini universe, each containing its own version of earth, its own time period and its species of in habitants. Some species are so similar that the only difference from another dimension is the time period, or what people can do.

You see when someone says you are unique their right. That's because there is no person that is exactly alike. You may have to go down to a molecular level but you'll see that no one is the same.

Moving on, in each dimension there is one family line of people that has more power than the rest. These people contain the ability to travel to different dimensions. Now why only one family? Why not everyone? The answer is simple, chaos. If everyone was like that select family new wars with the potential to destroy entire dimensions, hatred, greed, a simple power struggle for ultimate ruler.

But the universe isn't like that so for the most part where safe. Or so we think. If it weren't for those select families the universe would be dead. This is the job of the travelers.

God created us for a reason, for he has a plan for all of us. But as I said before nothing is perfect not even god. For some people, being gifted isn't enough and those people seek to be stronger. The select families have what's called free destiny. This gives them the power to run their own life regardless of gods plan; he needed to give the families this power in order to maintain the pax eternal.

Hell is real, just as god is. But not in the way that you think. Yes demons are real the going to hell if your bad is real. But who the demons are and the way they live is different.

You see god created humans, Satan created demons. You see they're really just a rebellious, aggressive, stronger, evil version of human. Of course there are a variety of demons, some what seem to be two animals fused to one or some practically human.

But contrary to popular belief they live in an organized society with a code of laws. They may be more lenient with them but law is law and there's no denying it. So really the demons that brake into other dimensions are really just the criminals of hell.

Traveler is the name given to the members of the select families who devote their lives to protecting those who are helpless against any force that opposes the peace. There are different levels of traveler, trainer, mind wipers, minor disturbance operative, medium disturbance operative, major disturbance operative, private mission operative, and demon slayer. Then there's the head, the big cheese that controls everything.

Travelers have more than their assigned positions to do. People who are gifted often don't know until they are told. At that point it becomes the travelers job to maintain his/her earlier assignment while having to now train the person that they just told that they where a traveler.

A travelers level is decided not only on how well they do their job but how much ki they retain as well as create. You may be familiar with the term ki, from some martial arts, swords styles or religions. Well, there right. Ki is as real as everything else I just described. There is more than one type of ki depending on what you want to do. The basic forms of ki are fire, water, earth, air, poison, spirit, and mechanical. From there on there are more complex and advanced forms of ki such as soul, vorpal, nature, lightning ECT. Of course there are many more types than the ones I just listed. Regardless, depending on what type of ki you use depends on what kind of spell you can perform.

Anyways as I was saying depending on how much ki a person has. The amount of ki a traveler can retain is not limited. That doesn't mean that they can just go up and buy it. No it's much more complex than that. A traveler may only gain ki through use of it. Not just using the oldest or easiest spell you know, no it can only be achieved through pushing your physical being to the max. Only then through extreme use of your ki may a traveler increase his limit off ki. This is my job. This is my world. This is my life.

Things where not always this way. At one point I was just as oblivious as you to the truth. But then it happened.

I was four at the time not caring about anyone but me. I was by myself, or so I thought. I went to my favorite place, only to something I wish that I would never see again. There was a man. Sprawled on the grass, he was bleeding badly and was covered in wounds the size of my hand. At the time I did not know that I was the only one who could see this, I was too little to understand.

I attempted run towards him but something pulled me back, it was a large gruesome paw. Screaming with fear I tried to escape but I was helpless. I watched the man bleed to death right before my eyes. Once the man had died, the creature redirected its attention to me.

It looked hungry, probably was. It took one of its giant paws and swung it towards my face attempting to kill me. I was scared. Probably the most scared I've ever been in my life. I wanted to do something, anything. So I did.

I shifted my head downwards towards the creatures' skin and did the only thing I was good at, at the time. I bit it. It howled a cry that would kill a cat if one were nearby.

That's when out of the blue a beam of light came and speared it through the heart. The monster fell to the floor now much less fierce than it had looked before.

A man walked out from behind me. He was tall and dressed in what would be referred to as medieval rags. He looked down to me and smiled. "Nasty bastards, glabrazu" he said in a deep Australian accent.

"Well then, I suppose we better get going" he said cheerfully. I looked up to him afraid and worried "G...go ware" I said in a weak voice. "I'll explain on the way" he said at last. With that last note he grabbed me by my hand and took me off to what I would later find out to be a different dimension.

From that point on it was my life. I trained day and night working myself up in the ranks. I would always make good friends with new travelers I hade to train. I've been to many places in my life, and made many friends. Some of my greatest pupils/travelers have been what you may think to be part of "fiction." An example would be Yoh Asakura, my equal, or my greatest student and now currently my partner Motoko Aoyoma. I have many, many more but those are some of my greatest friends that anyone could have.

I never had a home after my first encounter, not until recently. It was a fate full five years ago when I found it. It was my latest assignment, a simple one to. There had been major disturbances in the area and I had to get rid of them. It was also an infiltration assignment, use resident of the area as a host, wait until danger strikes then eliminate the source.

I was waiting at the top of the Hinata Inn. Waiting for the first human to walk up that horrid seemingly endless staircase. Of course I expected for a female to walk up those steps, it being a girls dormitory. Now don't get me wrong I'm not a pervert, it just happened that this was the closest area to the disturbances (unsurprisingly).

I was pondering on what my friends where doing at the time when I noticed a figure walking up the steps. Without hesitation I reverted to soul form and entered what I thought was a perfectly healthy female. Only to find that it was my future friend Keitaro Urashima. I though I was screwed, but surprisingly he was the manager of the place (how that happened I'll never understand).

Anyways, after continuous beatings by a hyperactive evil genius, a homicidal ditz and a destructive kendo girl, the enemy finally showed its face.

I was ready to leap from my unsuspecting host when Motoko leaped in for an attack. It was too late I had already leaped from Keitaros' spiny body and was moving at to fast a pace to stop. I went flying into her. Completely shocked, me as well as Motoko where dumbfounded and no clue what to do.

But that moment didn't last long, because even though I was knocked stupid the disturbance wasn't (which turned out to be a balrog).

It swung its mighty hand towards us with such for that there was a sonic boom. Realizing what the heck was going on I grabbed Motokos' confused body and sprung to the top of the annex.

The balrog screaming with rage drew its whip lashed it in my direction. Motoko finally out of shock shoved me forcing me to drop her on the roof of the annex.

Luckily for her though doing that not only made me drop her but prevented her from the clutches of the balrogs' fiery whip that encircled me.

I screamed in pain as the burning sensation set in. I wanted to cry but my adrenaline was too high to do that. "Damn balrog" I shouted as steam fumes flew from my body. Freeing my hands I clenched them together. "SLOW MOTION" I said with a voice filled with pain. Sure enough though my charm worked.

Everything but me had been temporarily slowed down to 0.05 times, times' speed. Using my arms I pushed myself free of the whips intolerable hold. Now free of the whips clutches I rushed along its out stretched neck towards my practically frozen enemy.

Jumping high in the air I unsheathed my katana. Throwing myself in mid air towards the balrog, I pointed my sword downwards so upon my re-entry of normal time speed, my sword would pierce the balrogs fiery flesh.

But it doesn't happen that way, for as time went back to its normal flow when a blast of positron came from my left. It nailed the balrog in the temple causing it to shriek in pain. With a soundless thump my sword pierced the ground.

I looked to my left to find Su and her newly patented positron cannon, or as she called it "Mr. Merkaba." "Nyahaha…you like that?" she laughed, mocking the balrog. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!" I said in the angriest voice I could produce. "YOUR ONLY BLOODY AGGRIVATING IT!" I shouted and shouted, even though I knew she wasn't listening.

By now the balrog was now so infuriated that the flames that surrounded its body had gone white. Not only that but it had lost all aspects of what little strategy it had and was on a rampage headed straight for her.

Now being the person that she was Su just kept on firing not noticing that what she was doing was only making things worse.

Within twenty seconds the balrog had gone from the court yard to the outside of the bath, Su's location. Sped as fast as I could towards the bath and beating the balrog by to seconds. To you two seconds may not seam like much, but in a battle like this it made all the difference. As I jumped in front of Su and her cannon, the now out of control balrog attempted to step on us.

Gathering up all my energy I pushed against the weight of the balrogs foot holding it at bay. "RUN DAMN IT" I shouted to Su from behind me. Realizing that her life was in threat, Su ran off to her room.

That left just me and the balrog, or so I thought. I was beginning to yield to the weight of the balrog; I wouldn't be long before I was just a head in the ground. I needed to think, but I didn't have to.

"Demon cutting blade! Second form" shouted a voice from behind me. I felt a whoosh of ki fly through my body then into the balrog. It didn't do much though, nothing more than deteriorate the balrogs toenail.

Even though it didn't do much it seemed to nock the balrog of balance, and that was enough for me. I ran out from under the balrog sending it crashing into the bath.

Now, everything has a weakness. Everything… werewolves and silver bullets, vampires and garlic, vegetarians and meat ECT. So it came as no surprise that the balrogs' weakness, being made forty percent out of fire, was water.

It spun in agony as slowly its fiery light went out. This would only be a temporary until its body dried of so I had to act fast.

I turned around to see Motoko standing behind me in a mixture of confusion and bewilderment. "You," I said rather rudely. "You, do you have any exorcist seals." "Yes," she replied rather distantly while pulling out a talisman.

"Good, give it to me now!"… "NOW!" I grabbed the talisman from her hand and placed it on the balrog. Pulling my katana from the ground I gathered what little spirit ki I hade left and shouted loud and clear "EXCORIST SLASH." I only saw a glimpse of the balrogs deterioration but I had an idea what it was like, for shortly after I sealed the demon, I passed out from exhaustion.


	2. katanas, bananas and blood

LOG3: katanas, bananas and blood

I awoke the next morning to find my self, laying on the couch in the living room of the hinata inn. Trying to figure out what was going on I attempted to stand up. Only to slip on a banana peel and greet the floor with my brand new bleeding nose. "Who the HELL leaves a banana peel where someone is sleeping!" I yelled, pulling my face off the floor. In doing so I seemed to have attracted the attention of the hinata residents. They dragged me to the kitchen table, where they forced me to tell them about me…everything about me.

"So I would require room and board for a minimum of six months" I said, sticking tissues in my nose to stop the bleeding.

"Absolutely out of the question!" Motoko stormed "Not only do we have to suffer living with Urashima, nut now you want us to house this lecherous pig as well!"

"Now calm down," Naru chimed attempting to control the rampaging Motoko "but she is right, we can't house a guy, this is a GIRLS DORMITORY."

"I understand where you're coming from, but unfortunately you don't have much of a choice" I said holding up the hinata inns' recent bills.

Kitsune leaned towards the paper. She looked at it for a second then turned back to the rest of the hinata crew and said "Man those bills are higher than Naru can hit Keitaro"

"HEY now!" Keitaro snapped. But was easily distracted when he saw the bills. "Dear god! She's telling the truth! There's no way where gonna be able to pay those bills!"

"See what did I say" I interrupted

Looking around at the girls that surrounded him Keitaros' face grew scared. Tilting his head down he whimpered "we have no other choice; we have to let him stay"

"DAMN IT Urashima," Motoko yelled in uncontrolled anger. "You shall pay for your Crime!"

"But I didn't do anything!" pleaded Keitaro, even though he knew she wouldn't listen. "Why meeeee… he cried as he was sent flying through a brick wall.

"I take it back," Kitsune, laughed "we have a new record, Motoko; you're now the raining champ"

I could feel a sweat drop appear on my forehead, for good reason too. Trying to keep my cool I tried to socialize a bit more, so I leaned against the wall and said "I take it you've done this before."

I was replied with a loud "Humph!" form Motoko, but the others didn't seem to mind. Now with their manager launched into orbit they re-directed their attention at me.

"Well then" Naru scowled. "Due to our dumb ass manager looks web don't have an opinion in the matter," she said glaring at keitaro, who had just crawled back through the door. Suddenly her eyes shot open, realizing something. "You said to us that using some kind of magic," "ki if you will" I interrupted. "Right ki, anyways using your ki you hid in keitaros' body until that thing attacked right?"

"Right" I responded. "What's your point?"

"My point is that, if you actually did that doesn't that mean that all those time that Keitaro fell in on us bathing that you could…" she stopped in mid sentence.

"Could what?" I asked now curious.

Her eyes went red as if she was being controlled, possessed if you will, by the darkest, strongest thing I had felt in my life. this was followed shortly after by a loud"YOU PERVERT!"

Her fist came like a freight train; there was a loud explosion, as another hole in the wall was made right next to Keitaros.'

My mangled body flew hundreds of feet if not thousands into the air; it was if someone had shot a rocket at me. At one point I thought that I would reach the clouds. And from what I was told you could hear my scream from the other far side of Tokyo.

Impact wasn't any better; I was shot up vertically so I fell back in roughly the same spot. A few minuets later I woke up to find Su gnawing my foot. "This food hard to eat." She said with my foot in her mouth. "No damn it I am not food!" I shouted in anger! I shoved her off me and stood up.

"I think it would be better if I discussed this issue in private with your landlord," I said, panting for breath. Quickly agreeing, Keitaro took me up to his room.

"Ouch! And I thought the balrog was bad," I said talking quietly. "I know and I have to live with them every day of my life," responded keitaro. "Anyways have we got the issue settled?" I asked.

"I suppose" he sighed; "now there's the question of who you are." "What do you mean" I asked attempting to avoid the topic. "I mean you're obviously not from around here," he said rather cheerfully. "Sigh, well no use hiding it now," I said, giving up.

So over the next hour I spent in Keitaros room explaining myself. "So you're from another universe?" "Dimension actually" I responded. "You believe me right," I questioned. "Well I'm not sure how much of it is true" he said nodding "but anything that can take on that thing has earned my respect." "Besides as you said before I don't have much of a choice," he said drooping his head.

"Now, now it's not that bad, I'm quite handy with tools" I said trying to cheer him up. "How about this, I'll do all the repairs on the building as well as pay rent. Besides, you look like you could use the help," I smiled. We shared a laugh and I headed out of the room. On my way out I was greeted by another banana peel, and shortly after the floor. "Who the hell is eating all these bananas?" I shouted in frustration.

Suddenly coming out from the right was a mechanical turtle. At first I thought it was a simple robot but that soon changed. Its mouth opened up to reveal a tiny but lethal plasma cannon. Its cannon glowed for a few seconds then shot off several rounds of plasma…at me. Scrambling to my feat I ran down the hallway using the hyper speed charm.

Turning a corner I gathered my wits and prepared for attack. I jumped into the open releasing several fire balls in its direction. It managed to avoid two or three before it was demolished in my flames.

Su jumped out from here room warring what looked l suspiciously like a military uniform. "Oh no my mecha tama," she whined in her high pitched voice.

"That's you are obviously allied with the turtle scourge, evil alien prepare to feel the wrath of the Hinata defense force" Su boasted pointing her deeply tanned finger at me. "Bloody hell! What's wrong with you!" I shouted from the other side of the hallway."Secondly IM NOT EVIL." But of course she wasn't listening.

"Enough lies," she continued "hinata defense force attack!"

at first nothing happened, but I knew the grin on her face meant she knew what was going on. There was a small earthquake for about five seconds then out of the blue a small army of miniature tanks rolled beside her.

"Fire!" she shouted as she pressed a button on her remote control. Instantly the tanks began to fire and I new they weren'tshooting flowers. "WhatThe HELL?" i shouteddashing back behind the corner of which I leaped from.

Keitaro herd the battle and peeked his head outside "is everything alright" he asked. He turned his head to the left only to get a face full of cannon.

There was a loud "aaaaaaaaaaaggggggh" as the bullet exploded in Keitaros' face. "Nyahaha," Su laughed.

By this time I had already made my escape out the window on the second floor. By grabbing on the ledge of the roof, then swinging body over it, I managed to find myself in a safe position.

"Man…," I sighed "what the hell is wrong with that girl?" "No wonder Keitaro is afraid to show his opinion."

A surge of ki aura pulsed through my veins. I turned my around trying gather my surroundings. What I saw was Motoko, training on the roof of the annex across from me. That's when I realized something, Motoko was a traveler.

Most would have thought that she already knew this, but she didn't. How could I tell? Simple, even though she used ki, she only used beginner level ki spells that even someone from a regular bloodline could perform. not to mention I felt that she could retain an enormous amount of ki.

I knew what I had to do, and if you read my last chapter you would know too.

I had just found my newest student. Knowing what I had to do I leaped across the gap between the annex and the inn with ease. I landed quite silently so that only a dog would hear it.

Even though I did that, she sensed my presence. "I warned you," with obvious anger. She ran towards me sending blasts of ki in my direction, or so she thought. She pointed her sword at my supposed neck. "Thought you could spy on me did you!" she said through gritted teeth. "Who are you talking to?" I asked from behind her.

She looked back to find me perched on the railing of the annex. Shocked, she looked back to her sword to just in time to see my wind clone disappear.

What the heck just happened? Wasn't I trapped by a tip of a sword? Well kind of. Knowing that she would sense my presence I pulled off a little trick. You see while I was in mid air I used my wind ki to create a clone of myself. I made my clone land behind motoko so that she would turn around. Meanwhile the real me kept going and landed silently in front of motoko, therefore giving her the illusion that I was behind her, when I was in fact in front of her.

She looked back to me in frustration. "You think that petty tricks will fool me!" she yelled attempting to pierce me with her sword.

She was surprised, to find that yet again she had been tricked. Her pierced nothing but an illusion of me sitting there.

Now its time for part two of my explanation. You see I really did land on the railing, but almost immediately jumped back in the air leaving a holographic illusion behind me.

Motoko stood back in ultimate confusion. "What the hell is this?" she whispered to herself. I landed right beside her; without hesitation I pulled a knife from my pocket and pointed it at her neck. "Got news for you," I said mischievously "those weren't tricks." She turned around and found herself on the short end of the stick if you know what I mean.

"What do you want," she snarled throughher teeth.

"I want to train you," I said rather bluntly.

"Humph, train me! Please you only caught me off guard. Besides why bother?"

"Because you're a traveler, an interdimensional warrior, part of an organization bent on protecting the pax eternal."

"This is the biggest lie I've ever heard, have you no pride?" she whined.

Well known fact amongst travelers, the hardest part of training someone is getting them to believe you. This is why missions like this one cantake years to complete.

Moving on; she looked at me with the uttermost disgust. "Why do you hate me?" I asked curiously.

"a) You lie to me b) I hate all men," Motoko retorted rudely (see I told you it wasn't easy).

"Well, why I don't know why you hate men, but I do know that what I just told you is no lie. And if I'm not mistaken, you're the liar."I responded equally as rude.

"Please, this is the biggest lie I've heard all year!"

"Oh really, you say you hate all men but yet even by the short amount of time I've been here I can tell that you're quite infatuated with Keitaro."

Her eyes glowed a bright red equal to that of Narus', even though, this time I held a firm position.

"Tell you what," I said speaking seriously "you give me one day to prove to you that I'm not lying and when I do so you let me teach you."

"You have one hour and you must first defeat me in a fair battle before I even acknowledge that you have any skill whatsoever."

"Agreed," I said pulling my knife away from her neck. And with that final note we walked to separate sides of the annex.

"To make this fair, ill drop my weapons," I boasted dropping my knife.

Suddenly Kitsune came running up the stairs with everyone behind her, "what's this? A match between new boy and Motoko! Now this calls for spectators, cameras and sake!" she spouted with the highest enthusiasm. She quickly ran downstairs and came back up with a bottle of fine sake. Continuing on I offered her first strike, which she full heartedly accepted.

There was a loud noise that came from a buzzer that belonged to Su, signaling for the match to start.

Motoko rushed towards me with a speed that would seem like lightning to anyone else, but to me was like a tortoise waking up from a nap.

It took her a full two and a half seconds for her to reach me. By this time I was more than prepared.

She lunged towards me attempting to pierce my flesh. I jumped upwards and landed on the edge of her blade, which took me a total of 0.002 seconds.

"Your movements are slow and your attacks are harmless," I mocked while standing on her Shisui.

She thrust her sword upwards as to launch me in the air, in doing so she gave me time to position myself for an aerial strike. I pulled my body over her head and twisted myself into a nosedive, preparing my fist.

"Boulder cutting blade!" she called releasing a streak of white ki streaking towards me.

My body plummeted towards the white wave, to the untrained eye hopelessly. But fortunately I was trained. Casually I closed my eyes, searching for my savoir. "Sonic barrier, frontal format," I called calmly.

Almost immediately after I finished talking a clear plasmid wall of sound formed in front of me. There was a loud sonic boom, followed by a large cloud of smoke.

For a moment everything was silent, nothing moved or spoke. Then as the smoke cleared the hinata residents' saw something that they thought was impossible. They saw a man, no older than eighteen, with one hand clenched in a fist and the other hand balancing on one finger on the tip of Motokos' katana.

"Game over," I grinned rather evilly. Motoko stood there in awe, not believing what just happened. Finally she dropped to her knees, slamming her fist on the ground.

"YOU Bastard!" she cried in the midst of self-loathing. "There's no way! You must have cheated! I've spent my whole life training and then you just stroll in here ruining it all!"

"Honestly I didn't want to have to do that," I preached "but it was the only way you'd listen!"

The awkward moment ended when Kitsune began to squawk. "HOLY SHIT! New boy beat MO? That's amazing, not to mention the whole balancing on the blade thing!" she chirped in her usual tipsy voice.

"How the heck did you do that?" Keitaro gawked pointing his finger at me then at Motoko, who was now writhing in humiliation on the floor.

"Actually, I said it's easy for someone like me but for someone that doesn't have it then it's impossible," I smiled. "Have what," Keitaro questioned, looking back at me.

" Nothing… moving on!"

"Now then Motoko, I won, and that means I get one hour to prove to you that I'm a traveler, and then become your teacher."

"No…my sword…my life. I can't do this there's no way… impossible," Motoko wailed, while running in circles.

" Oh come now," I laughed, opening a portal "it's not that bad I mean we'll be back by night." I was forceddo tocontinuous resistance, to drag her by her foot through the portal.

"Session one," I said "belief."


	3. training begins, with a side of reality

LOG: 4 training begins

We where surrounded in darkness, except for two lights that seemed to emanate from me and Motoko. "Where are we," Motoko gasped starring blankly at the darkness. "We are in the portal of worlds, it's like a train station for traveling to different dimensions, don't worry it won be long now," I answered. "What's going to happen?" she continued, pulling herself together.

"You'll see."

I was right; it took only two minuets for it to happen. At first it started small, a small light in what seemed to be in the center of the darkness. Then as it grew larger you could see that the light was made up of several white squares that looked like the glass from a TV. It didn't take long before we where surrounded in what looked like a tunnel of these squares.

"Beautiful aren't they," I said standing beside her. "Indeed…but, what are they?" she posed.

"They're the portals to every dimension in existence, that's why it looks endless, because it is."

Motoko strode towards them in wonder. She reached the closest square to her and looked at it. What she saw was another world, a parallel universe. She reached out to it as if to touch it, but stopped at the edge of the screen.

"Nice try," she said smugly. "You had me going for a while. For a second I almost believed you where telling the truth. But I've figured you and your scheme out!"

"Well then," I laughed "let's hear your explanation."

"I'm dreaming," she retorted smoothly "this, you, everything that I thought happened, is all just the fabrication of my subconscious mind."

"You really don't give up easy do you," I groaned, shaking my head. "Listen!" I said walking up to her "as confusing as this is, it's all real. And besides," I joked "if I where a dream could I do THIS!" I struck her lightly across the face, knocking her to the floor.

"You bastard," she snapped! "Why the hell did you do that? Have you no honor?"

"You asked me that already and no!" I laughed "I have loyalties. And as for hitting you, I was just showing you that you weren't dreaming!"

"Bastard," she mumbled under her breath

"What happened to treating people with respect?" I teased, playing with her emotions.

"Let's just get this over with!" she huffed as she got up. She walked towards me and stared at me darkly.

"You brought me to this place now lets do what were here to do!" she growled.

"OK, ok… I really am sor…,"

"SHUT UP AND GO!"

"Ok…"

I walked down the tunnel, starring left to right searching for the right screen

"What exactly are we looking for," Motoko said glumly

"We're looking for a portal"

"I KNOW THAT!" she shouted, "WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?"

"IT'S GOT AN IMAGE OF A FUCKING PLANET IN IT!" I shouted back. "JUST LIKE ALL THE OTHER GOD DAMN PORTALS! Listen if you're still pissed of about me hitting you IM SORRY ok! Look ill even Let you hit me back OKAY?"

"What? Are you sure?"

"If it'll get you off my back then go ahead…lightly though okay."

"Very well," she said with a grin on her face. "SHIN LIGHTING SLASH!" she shouted as she released a very large ball of lightning in my direction, it was also very, very painful.

My body was sent flying across the room at such a speed that things where a blur (not that there was much to look at).

"GOD DAMN!" I screamed in mid flight "the only way that this could get worse is if…" my sentence was cut short as I slammed face first into a screen. "Never mind," I groaned, skidding off the glass.

Luckily though, some good came out of that. As I pulled myself off the floor I looked at the glass of the portal I hit, which was surprisingly enough, the one we where looking for.

"HOW the Hell did you SURVIVE that? You wouldn't happen to be related to Urashima would you?" Motoko said in utter awe.

"DAMN IT! That's over kill!" I shouted to her even though she had just walked up beside me

"But did you not say that I may hit you?" she imposed, knowing that she over did it.

"I said HIT, not KILL… Hit, Kill there's a difference! Sigh… why must I always pick the difficult ones," I sighed to myself. "Anyways!" I chirped, attempting to put what just happened behind me. "Watch and learn," I said placing my hand on the glass of the portal.

It took a second or two, but then slowly but surely my hand began to seep into the glass. Forcing my hands in further I shut my eyes tight and shouted "Tridnox, portal awaken!"

Instantly the portal began to open. First there was a bright, that shawn with such a light that it could blind. Then gradually it began to grow. It took only a matter of seconds to finish, and once it did, there, standing in front of us was a door way that led to a grassy plain.

I opened my eyes; it was no surprise to me that this would happen. But to Motoko, it was most likely the most mind boggling thing that she had ever seen. Having seen these things before I casually walked to the doorway and crossed through. Standing there in the grassy field I starred back at Motoko who was undoubtedly in disbelief and called "You coming?"

Snapping out of here trance, Motoko looked at the doorway. "Just cross through!" I said, converting to a state of boredom. It took a bit of convincing, but once through, Motoko returned to her normal state.

We'll train here for the next little while," I dictated, while looking for a pebble. "What for?" Motoko asked, still trying to wake up. "You see," I continued "Tridnox is a wild dimension. It's inhabited only by wild animals. It also contains the occasional mountain, miles and miles of empty grassland ECT. It's basically the perfect place to come for training."

Tridnox is one of my favorite dimensions. As I said before it was a wild dimension, the planet Tridnox itself is the most untouched place I have ever seen. By that I mean it has yet to be destroyed by the suicidal race of man. You may think that I'm being hypocritical, but I'm not. You see in traveler law It is illegal to build/manufacture or live in an dimension in a way that is uncommon, harmful to the environment of the dimension, or if the dimension be wild perform any construction what so ever out except out of the natural resources and again in a way that is not unusual to the inhabitants. Moving on, Tridnox has a beautiful home planet. As I stated before it contains the rare mountain, loads of moist green grass land, but there is more to this dimension than that. There is numerous amounts of natural, crystal clear hot springs and lakes (which I might add are safe to drink and bath in.), waterfalls, there is also the occasional jungle that looks like it belongs in the Amazon. To be honest it's a quiet place, and I often come here to think and reminisce. But on those, few times when I am forced to train another I come here, since it truly is the ideal spot for training.

Having found my stone, I stood up. "YO!" I shouted to Motoko, as she looked at the empty plain. She turned around slowly and stood in front of me with an "I'm so not impressed" look in her eyes.

"Ok, then," I said, trying to not be effected by her glares (which I must admit, are quite good). "First lesson, if you wish to be a traveler, than you must first be able to tell the difference between truth and fiction"

"I didn't CHOOSE to do this!" she pouted (she's actually quite cute when she pouts).

"Well tough shit you're gonna," I continued, still attempting to remain un-withered by her whining. "Tell you what, if you can take this pebble from me, well move on to something interesting,"

"It better be one hell of an interesting thing, or I'll personally "assist" (emphasis on assist) you in making yourself want to take your own life," she complained.

"Don't worry it is, anyways," I said revealing the pebble in my left hand. "Take it."

Without hesitation, she quickly snatched the stone from my hand and leapt back to her original position.

"Do not play games with me boy!" she boasted, "I have repeated this trail to the extent in which it is second nature" she continued, over confidentially.

"You sure?" I said, pulling my right hand out. I held it tightly, clenched in a fist. Then slowly, I tilted my hand until my palm pointed upwards. Then I opened my fist to reveal the vary same stone.

"How did you…?" she blurted, losing all sound of confidence with it.

"How did I what? Take it? Who knows, maybe I didn't." I said putting my left hand behind my back. Then I hurriedly pulled it back out to reveal yet another stone clone.

She starred blankly for a moment, then that blankness was overcome with anger. "What the hell am I doing here? This is doing nothing; I have real training to do. Get out of my way; I need to get back to hinata house."

"Oh really?" I smirked, milking the moment for all its worth (as the saying goes). "Then how do you suppose you'll get back to hinata house without me to open the portal back?" I continued, knowing I had won this argument.

She stopped mid stride and turned around slowly. She gave me a look of such annoyment that her face looked as if she would go mad in a second. Regaining her calm (only partially though), she stood back in her original position, then said in what sounded like an attempt to be calm, "well then, if show me how to kill... I mean depict whether or not to spear you…I mean whether or not something is real…enough to bash you with…I mean…Screw it! Just show me how to do this so I can get home."

There was a moment of silence; she looked at me harshly for a second, but soon that face came back to the usual calm face of its owner. "Sorry," she sighed looking downward in self-loathing. "Please, continue," she added.

"Ok… well then," I said, attempting to sound sophisticated. "In order to tell if something is fiction or not then first you must understand that everything gives off an aura. If something is real, an original true to the world then it has a yellow aura, that aura surrounds the rough outline of the object. If the object is fake by that I mean an illusion and or magic made, or lastly cloned. Then the aura of the object will be a different colour, a bright blue, or neon green. If something contains a red aura then that means it is explosive and hot. An aura is white, it is explosive but icy. If it's both, then you better get the hell out of the way. There are more auras than that, but ill explain them as we see them. Anyways, in order to see the aura's you must focus your energy on the world around you, see it breath. Shut your eyes and continue focusing, then slowly you'll see the auras slowly appear. They will seem like blotches of multi coloured fire in the darkness, but soon they will take the shape of the object."

She shut her eyes, doing as I told her. I could feel it. We stood there for several minuets, not doing anything. It was a whole five minuets before anything was said. "There not real," she said at last opening her eyes.

"What? I said, redirecting my attention back to Motoko. "Say that again."

"There not real," she repeated "both are fictional."

"You sure?" I said in disbelief

"Yes, I am," she said, in an entirely sure voice.

"Well then, congrats, you passed," I smiled, surprisingly relieved.

You see, all the other times I've had to train someone, it would take weeks before they would understand this concept. I would spend hours and hours working with my students, attempting to make them understand. Motoko was the first of my students to get it on her first try, which proved my hypothesis. Motoko indeed would become a very powerful traveler.

We stood there, me in wonder, Motoko in awe. Finally I smiled, which turned into a large grin. It took a second but soon her face opened into a small smile. "Do you know that you are my first student to ever succeed this on their first try?" I said, looking into the blue sky.

"I understand that, but one question. Where is the real stone?" she asked, trying to hide her feeling of relief.

"Oh that, it's in your hand!" I said, my face returning to normal

She looked to her hand, which she still held clenched in a fist. She opened it to find that indeed the stone, which she had snatched from me, was the real one.

Her face grew angry, and her eyes glowed a bright red. "YOU BASTARD!" she yelled thrusting her sword in my direction. "HOW DARE YOU TRICK ME INTO DOING ALL OF THAT!" she said chasing me through the field.

After several beatings we returned to Hinata House, dirty and worn (me especially). She acted coldly upon our returned, and insisted that I was a perverted slime ball. Even though she did not show it, both her and I knew that this was the beginning of our friendship.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter: 4 repairs

I awoke the next morning in my newly acquired room, on the hard mattress on the floor that they called a bed. The sun shawn brightly into my room as slowly pulled myself off the floor and prepared myself for the day ahead. I unpacked my things swiftly but neatly, not that there was much to unpack. There was a small pile of parts, some highly dangerous, others less dangerous but highly breakable, and all of which I was using to build my latest weapon idea. There was also an entire tracking system, a criminal database, a universal communication system, vaccine and viral research and storage lab, and a surgical and first aid facility. Hard to believe I know but it's true. The best part about it all was that at the push of a button they would all turn into house hold items that anyone would have in their room, except for the pile of hazardous parts, no one would be able to tell what they where in the first place.

I ran downstairs to the dinning room, and as promised keitaro was waiting. He had a large pile wood and red roofing tiles, as well as several bags of cement, two piles of steel bars, and two cages of chicken wire. "Well then lets get started," he said with a smile on his face. " We need to get those holes from yesterday repaired before the girls wake up, as well as wash all the windows, repair and scrub the roof, and then clean the evilest, most vile, punishing place on earth." He said while walking in circles. " Where is it?" I asked now intrigued by Keitaros' description. "The bath," he said, sitting back down. "Please," I laughed, "How could that place be evil? It just an outdoor bath, I'm sure you're just being paranoid. Look if you're afraid of it that much, I'll do it myself." I said, amazed by his cowardliness. "Really? Well then you may need these," he said handing me a cross pendant and a holy bible, "may god have mercy on your soul." And with that last note we split up the chores.

I was given the bath, the windows and the roof, whereas Keitaro received everything else. And so I climbed up to the roof with the roof tiles and wood on my back. I sat there for a second giving myself a rest. It was all peaceful for a second, all until I noticed a small green lump, waddling its way toward the edge of the roof. When I got closer I could see that it was a hot spring turtle, which are extremely rare in these parts. I remembered from yesterday that I had seen one hanging around Keitaro, so I figured that it belonged to them. I watched it waddle closer and closer to the edge until I realized something; it wasn't going to stop.

I ran towards it attempting to stop it from going over the edge. But there was there was no stopping it now, it jumped over, without the slightest of hesitation. There was no time to think, I jumped over after it, there was no way I'd let that thing kill itself, who know how those girls would torture me? I pulled myself into a nosedive to increase me speed, gaining closer to the turtle. I stretched my hand outwards to grab it, but to my surprise it pulled itself as well into a nosedive, pulling itself away from me. Again I pushed myself towards the turtle, the ground closing in quickly. Again I stretched my hand out to save it, but this time the turtle did not try to escape, it simply just opened its fin like arms and FLEW UPWARDS. "What the hell?" I said, watching the turtle do loops in the sky. The ground was getting closer by the second, I needed to do something. So I did, I grabbed the roofing tile near the second floor, and swung my body through the window, to safety, or so I thought. My body didn't stop at the glass, no; I continued to fly through the hallway, and right through a wooden sliding door and straight into Narus' room. I landed softly, on something even softer with a quiet thud. I gripped it, pulling myself off. Then it moved, and stood up and looked at me. It was Naru. "Molesting me in my sleep I see," she said preparing her fists, while glaring at me with the same evil look that she had used from yesterday. "NO, listen!" I said scrambling away from her. "Honestly! I was on the roof doing some repairs and then there was this turtle, and it jumped off and I thought that…" "NO EXCUSES!" she screamed. Then it came, once again I was nailed by her fright train of a fist, and was sent into orbit.

And hour later, after I had re-entered the planets atmosphere I found myself understanding of why Keitaro was so afraid of the bath. But unfortunately I had little choice now. After that I took as long as I possibly could to delay my inevitable upcoming beating. But there was no denying the fact that I had to do it. After a couple minuets of fret I reached the change room of the bath. It was seemingly empty, but wanting to avoid any possible contact with the demonic hosts of this house, I called out to be sure. Having no response, I took it as a sign that there was no one around, so naturally I went in. my assumption was confirmed upon entry, the change room was totally empty. I began my cleaning, as swiftly as possible, being sure to avoid any areas in which someone might be. The change room itself was particularly small, so it took a minimum amount of time to complete.

I stared at the door that led to my certain doom, pondering my options. I couldn't open the door, if someone where in there I would most definitely be killed. But I also couldn't nock, then they would assume I was peeping. I was being was being offered grim options, but unfortunately I had to take one of them.

Why is it that people are so assuming these days? You either are good or bad, it's hard to work with people like that. The large wooden door was like a doorway to hell, it absolutely oozed evil. The worst part about this place was that they didn't even listen to what you had to say. No opinion whatsoever. Why did I even bother doing this sort of thing? It's not like they appreciate it. They wouldn't even be able to grasp how hard my life has been, but it's not like they care anyways. Laughing in the face of death is one of the most moronic things you can do, but it provides some level of comfort, so I did it anyways.

I breathed deeply, four or five times before sliding the door open. All I could see was the steam of the bath, nothing was plainly visible. It was sundown as well, a good omen to most people in my situation, but for me it added a new level of discomfort. That's when I felt it, some sort of ki or aura. It was definitely strong, but as for its alignment, I couldn't tell. I whipped around, attempting to give myself an attack of opportunity if needed, but only succeeded in nearly slipping and falling on my ass. But to my surprise I saw only a silhouette of a woman, coming towards me. Scrambling to get my balance I prepared myself, who was it? They certainly didn't seem angry, but allured rather. The closer the shadow got, the easier it was to tell that it was most definitely Motoko. As she drew nearer, and nearer I could see more and more of what I shouldn't have. The look in her eyes was petrifying, entrancing, beautiful. The closer she came the more beautiful she was, and the less I found she was wearing. Now only a few steps away from me I could plainly see her. Her long black hair shawn brightly around her as the water entangled and absorbed reflected the sunlight. Her pale body covered by nothing but a towel all of this made her all the more entrancing. The look in her eyes was definitely not of anger either, it was plainly visible that look in her eyes was lust. Shocked, yet mesmerized I just stood there in bewilderment. She continued her movement until she was literally just inches from my body. She looked at me with those lustful eyes and then spoke two words that sent shivers up my spine. "Kiss me" she said quietly. She then moved her hand away from her towel, letting it fall to the floor, revealing her beautiful body.

Continuing her motion, she reached with both hands around me as she pulled herself into a hug. I could feel her soft body pressing against me, clinging to me; craving me. She looked upwards, leaning for a kiss. Not sure of not only what the hell was going on, I was also unsure of what the hell I was supposed to do. I began to lean in, being led purely by hormonal instinct. Her lips drew nearer and nearer, I could feel her very breath against mine. But fantasies never come true, for as I our lips where about to embrace, I felt the wave of aura, and this time, I was sure it was evil. Not wasting any time I pulled my head back, causing her to look up. Then I used my right hand to grab hold of hers, at which point I twisted her into a most painful position. "WHO AND WHAT THE HELL, ARE YOU?" I snapped angrily, having just had my emotions played with. The creature then twisted it's head to the point of one eighty degrees (eeewww, exorcist girl head spinning!). From that point it was plainly obvious that this wasn't Motoko I was holding hostage. Not stopping at the head spinning it then twisted its body in several positions, which should have totalled in the braking of most of her bones. At this point I stepped back, disgusted and bewildered. The creature then jumped back and adjusted itself so that its body once again looked human. It stared at me hungrily, still with the same lustful eyes, but now I understood why. It wasn't looking for a mate, it was looking for food. Suddenly it spoke, but with a much darker, unfeminine voice. "Such a foolish boy to think he can escape the king!" it said, in a foul attempt to intimidate me. "LISTEN!" I said growing impatient "I don't know who or what you are, but you seriously don't know what I'm capable of , so you'd better back down and follow my orders if you worship your life."

The creature just stood there for a moment, then it began to transform in a way I will never forget. All its bones began to crack, twisting, expanding, and changing, the skin in which it fostered began to rot and melt off. Lastly horns began to spout from its head, black leather wings began to grow from its back, its teeth became much sharper and larger, and its' face grew out to the length of a dogs muzzle. Lastly its new skin began to change a dark shade of red, a common sign of a demon. Thething now stood before me, with its newly found red eyes, (which by the way was lacking both pupils and irises) with a grim smirk on its face, thinking it had won. "I'm quite fine with living," it said continouing our conversation"but it's obvious that you don't worship yours, so here let me take it for you. " Then, without words it sprung towards me, spreading its claws open, craving the meat of my flesh. Not surprised, and slightly prepared, I wasted no time in placing both my hands on the nearby steel pipe focusing hard on what I wanted. The metal began to morph, and transformed and in the blink of an eye, it changed from pipe, to sword.

To all of those who are confused by this, what I did was perform simple alchemy. Alchemy uses equivalent exchange, which means I have to give something to get something, and even then, I can only create something of the same main element. So what I did was take the steel pipe and morphed it into a sword basically. Anyways, back to the story.

Water now gushed all around me, flying from all angles due to my taking the pipe for my own use. A small sacrifice though for what was at stake. I spun around, as swiftly as I could, but as I did I realized I was too late. The demon was a mere inch away from me, there was no time to do anything other than shut my eyes. I held them shut tightly, afraid to open them; but only found peace and calm. That to, was destroyed when there was a demonic yelp of pain. I opened my eyes to see the demon frozen in mid air, crying in agony. A single droplet of water, was visible on its forehead, other than that,there was no other indicator of possible damage. The demon covered its head, writhing and wailing, but soon it stopped, for as the creature screamed I noticed more and more of itself evaporate into the mist. Soon I was left facing the steam itself, no aura or enemy. but still a tense vibe hung in the air; this was definetly not the last time we would meet.


	5. Chapter 5: A Deadly Assist

Chapter 5: A deadly assist  
Months passed, and nothing. My mind was constantly confused, despite the grueling new life I bared as a personal trainer to a highly defiant and radical girl, and the repair man for the Hinata house. With that being said though, Motokos strength had grown rapidly over the past few months; she was nearing the point in which she could last a whole three minuets in combat against me. Although, she has yet to beat me, I'm almost sure that her strength could double if her trust in me was a little more committed.

Again, my mind was running in circles. Who and what was that mysterious creature in which I had fought in the months previous? Who was this king character in which the demon had spoke of? More importantly though who the hell had stolen all of my weapon parts? ...oh yes, that's right, I forgot to mention that. Shortly after my brief confrontation with that freakish beast, I dashed back to my room, desperately in search of an answer to the identity of the demon. After failing horribly I suddenly noticed a blank corner in my room, which had previously been occupied by the pile of weaponry parts that I had mentioned previously. Again, with little success I searched for an answer to my question, I could only find a leaf, of a plant that is only known to grow in the tropics.

Not much happened after that, no leads, no clues, the occasional punch to the face from the "monster" as I now call her would occur as well as the undeniable blast from Motoko, (which always succeeds in giving a wonderful tour of the solar system) but other than that nothing.

I walked down the wooden halls of the second floor of the hinata house; it was quiet, a wonderful rarity indeed. It being quiet could only mean that the school semester had begun and aside from Naru, Mitsumi, the poor ronin (Keitaro) whose indestructibility had saved him and me more than once, and the drunken fox (kitsune) as I called her, the place was empty. Ah but alas, dreams are but fantasy, meaning you are often awoken from them, for you see, as I turned the corner my paradise was shattered by an un-requested kick to the face from an energetic 15 year old bronze skinned girl whose genius had crossed the line to insanity; more commonly know as Su.

"What the hell was that for?" I demanded as my body was sent flying into the railing.

"Nyahaha!" she laughed in her it's funny to see you suffer sort of way, "Wasn't my good morning nice and refreshing?"

"Refreshing? Last time I checked something refreshing was to do something to awaken your senses, not to launch your dorm mate off the a second story building!" I stammered, climbing up the wall to the second story floor which had just been used as the launching point for a human rocket.  
"Nyahaha!" she laughed again, obviously finding pleasure in my discomfort.

Su is by text book definition, a genius. By my definition, she's insane. You see, she has a long history of mastering technology, from stealth suits to laser beams, she's mastered it all. But despite her impeccable grasp on the helm of technology, she has proven herself to be more than capable of being a child. Her energy levels are so high that she could cause a light bulb to explode if we put her to the test. Not to mention she has the attention span of a gold fish, disregard for everyone, and believes that turtles are the scourge of the earth and therefore should be either eaten, or destroyed. By all means she should either be working at NASA or be locked away in an insane asylum, take your pick. But no matter what you think of her, you will have to agree, that she is a mad scientist, and is therefore insane!

There was an awkward silence between us. Then, just for a second, I was sure I saw a glint in her eye; but in a flash it was gone. She blinked, and then smiled at me, and her mouth twisted into that humongous smile of hers. She walked to me in a kind of a leapish motion, that only she could truly accomplish.  
"What are you even doing here?" I growled, clearly showing my aggravation. She just continued in her leapish stride until she was a mere inch or so away from my body. Again another awkward silence as she looked up and blankly stared at me for a couple of minuets then she suddenly without warning said  
"your glasses are much smaller than Keitaros!" then grabbed them right off my face and ran down the hall.  
"Come back here with those you god damned child!" I shouted.

The chase was on; I bolted down the hallway at the speed of a bullet, darting head on for Su. My legs where pounding like a fast reggae beat, in any second she'd be mine, and I'd dangle her by that light blonde hair of hers over the edge of the Hinata house. With this beautiful thought in mind I began to relax, which is exactly why I didn't see her turn the corner and ran straight into the wall.

"THIS ISN'T OVER YOU CRAZY INDIAN GIRL!" I shouted putting tissues up my nose to stop the bleeding. I lifted my hand up to the wall

"Plasmis eldostex" I called, and the wall was blown to pieces by a ray of blue plasma beam.

The room was dark, musky, and fogged by the dust from the wall, three things I didn't like. Cautiously I stepped over the rubble into the room. Silence was all I heard in the darkness of the room… there didn't seem to be anyone there. Then a shiver ran up my spine; something wasn't right. Quickly I turned around…still nothing. Then from the darkest corner of the room a voice, that could only be described as dark spoke.

"Filled by one, set me free, filled by two, time to flee, filled by three the foes are no more, filled by four, and the blood bathed king will rule once more.

"Who's there?" I barked; this definitely wasn't Su and this definitely wasn't good.  
No answer…never a good sign. Slowly I inched towards the corner, fists ready. Nothing still.

I had reached the corner only to find that the corner was indeed, empty. I just stood there in the dark. "This is twice now, and by the sound of that dark hymn if I don't do something soon shits gonna fly." I stood for what seemed like forever but my thoughts where suddenly halted. "Consumed by greed, hate is his soul, black is his mind. He is the body. The bath is shallow,"

"What? What sacrifice?" I shouted, turning around.  
It was too late; behind me was, was the most feared figure in all of history. Death…the grim reaper.

The giant levitating hooded skeleton bearing a massive scythe stood before me, his eyes hallow, cold, filled with death. There was no time, the reaper swung its blade…one…two…three…four times across my chest, and blood spurted from my body, a lot of it. As I began to fall to my knees the giant skeleton wringed its hand around my neck, lifting me off the ground. I could feel the cold touch of death all around me, it felt as if the very light of the sun had been snuffed out and I was frozen by the darkness. "Your time is not now," the reaper said talking through its thoughts. "Slay the king and return order to the kingdom of death which is so rightly mine."

I had to get loose, I had to, but there was nothing I could do, the reaper opened his cloak and I was consumed by an eternal darkness.


	6. Chapter 6: i could use a hand

Chapter: 6 I could use a hand

I fell through the abyss of darkness endlessly. What was happening? Did I die...? No, there's no way I'd go down that easily. Where am I though?

These thoughts circulated through my head with no end. An abyss like this is and should be impossible. But it wasn't. It was as real as I was, and it was entirely black. Down, down, down I fell, I began to think that this really was endless, but just then I hit the bottom with a large smack.

The floor was as black as the pit above me; I stood up and looked to where I fell from me. There was no way in hell I could get back. I looked down again to find my feet where bare, and ankle deep in a thick red fluid…it was blood. I stumbled back and fell back into the blood. "Okay, what the hell is going on?" I said, pulling myself out of the pool of red. "First things first," I thought, "I've got to find a way out." I started to trudge my way through the seemingly raising fluid, when I noticed I light out of the corner of my eye. Without wasting a moment I ran towards it, but I couldn't seem to get any closer.

I was now swimming, the blood just kept rising; I didn't have a lot of mobility, and it wouldn't be long before I drowned.

Finally could feel the blood beginning to flow around my lips… this was the end. The blood reached my up to my nose, and that was it, I gave myself up and I began to sink into the sea of red. I could feel the blood entering my lungs, wouldn't be long now.

I was losing consciousness, I wasn't afraid to die, but I knew I didn't want to die here. What if something big was going to go down? what about my friends? what about my hopes and ambitions? what about all the fighting I've done to get to the point in my life where I was today? "NO!" I thought, "I will not die here, not now. I will not die… I won't." My eyes where open for some reason, and oddly enough I could see.

Then a voice spoke from above the surface. "It's about time; I had almost given up hope on you," It said hint of insult behind it. It was a sturdy voice; it felt powerful, yet wise, the voice you couldn't help but obey.

"Do you wish to live?" it asked in the same the way.  
"yes

"Do you wish to be strong?"  
"Yes."  
"Do you wish to smite those who would harm those you love?"

I hesitated at this. In my whole life, never had I loved someone. never a girl, never a man, never a friend. But now, I thought back on my time at the Hinata house. I certainly cared for them, but I knew deep inside that they didn't love me. Then I thought of Motoko... I don't know what it was but at that moment it burned loud and clear in my heart that i would crush anyone who would hurt her.  
I closed my eyes calmed my self down, and finally, said "yes."  
the voice gave a short, happy laugh "good, good, now then, take my hand and I will free you."

And with that a hand plunged into the blood in front of me. I grasped it tightly and it pulled me hard.

It was no longer the black abyss I had previously been in. I had been tossed into a red sky where black lightning danced around me as flew upwards. Below me was a baron desert floor, tinted red by an army of corpses scattered against the floor.

I tried to pull myself into a defensive position to prepare for landing but my body wouldn't listen.

I uncontrollably turned my head over my shoulders. Behind me was a man, maybe twice the size of a normal human. He wore a black hakama, lined with red around the rims and collar, it was bloody. He was scraggly and was no doubt powerful. His eyes where hollow, glazed over with a red mask. His face was plain and bland, uninteresting, which made the twisted look of enjoyment on his face seem out of place. His skin was as pale and white as a blood drained corpse, while his hair was long and black. Spikes of black plasma had erupted from his back; and in his hand, he bore a sword, drenched in blood, and constructed out of the bones and skulls of humans.

He lunged towards my position with frightening speed. Who was this man? although currently, It didn't matter. Right now all that mattered was living. I still couldn't move, bizarre as it may be, it was as if some outside force was controlling it; staying alive was going to be harder than I had thought.

he was closing in, wouldn't be long now. Thats when my body spun around alarmingly fast. i pulled a sword from my waist, it was a swiveled blade with a hilt of stone. In the center, beveled was a ruby as crimson as the sky above me, it was a beautifully powerful sword.

with no control i swung the sword before my foe; i felt powerful and in control. "animus pessum ire," i shouted with a voice that wasn't my own. Instantly a black and blue beam erupted from my sword blasting towards my enemy's direction. with skill and speed the man pushed himself up over the beam and ran towards me. But the thing controlling me was ready. acting quickly, i disappeared and reappeared by the man baring my blade ready . i swung with precision as the blade swished in attempt to cut him down, but he ducked and launched a tentacle towards me. shifting to the side, i blocked it and bolted towards my now falling foe. he launched another tentacle but i dodged it as i did the last. suddenly the first tentacle in the midsts of retracting had wrapped itself along my leg, and pulled me off balance. then he wasted no time in wrapping the other tentacle around my other leg as to pull me down in front of him...towards the ground. swiftly after words the man then launched two more of his tentacles towards my arms. hurriedly i sheathed my sword as the arms of black approached. letting my guard fall i allowed the tentacles to climb around my arm.

It was an odd thing, normally I'd be worrying, but for some reason an atmosphere of calm surrounded me. even though ground was a mere ten meters away and i had to do something fast. the man had launched his last to tentacles at me in hopes of piercing my body, but i had something prepared. with all the strength in my body I pulled the tentacles inwards in order to defend myself. the tentacles ricocheted off the others and retracted back. then with that same strength I swung my arms over my head, pulling him in that direction. then, swinging my legs over myself, i pulled the man directly below me, just in time for him to smash into the ground.  
the tentacles retracted, and I lunged backwards to avoid anymore possible grapples. Slowly the man stood up, he was bleeding badly, but seemed unaffected. "Fool! you can't kill me, no one can. not even you, the legendary can kill me.  
What was that? I thought instantly. what happened there? who is this legendary guy? why was he looking at me? more importantly, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?

i was about to go mad when a voice came from my mouth. it was the same voice i had heard in the sea of blood. that strong voice that had saved me from my bloody death. "don't get full of yourself, did you perhaps consider that there are fates worse than death?" it said with the sound of taunt in it's voice. "oh yes i have," the man then spoke with growing anger in his voice. "And I'll be sure that you suffer them when I'm done with you!" then all was quiet. no one moved.

The man placed all six of his tentacles in the ground and began to chant "illud of cado atrum animus transporto vestri bodies efficio meus mos quod i'll planto certus ut cruor mos repleo." Suddenly the ground began to shake with incredible might of an enormous tremor. then the army of bodies that where lined across the floor began to move. they began to tear themselves from their flesh as they emerged as skeletons.

withing minuets I stood before an army of skeletons the size of which had never been seen, this was definitely bad. But, even though this mass of the dead stood before me still i could feel an atmosphere of calm around me. again there was silence, the army just stood there ready for battle. then with the snap of his finger the army drew their weapons and charged towards me.

They ran towards me, bones clashing and all, their eyes filled with the red of anger, their bodies held together by the black magic of hate. But still I stood there, not moving an inch, not fearing a thing. I could not see him in between the mass of bones, but even from here i could sense his anger. he was but a man consumed by his greed and made strong by his hate, his soul was a black as space itself. I realized how pathetic he was, and it was almost enough for me to feel sympathy for him...almost enough. Unfortunately now was not the time for sympathy; i had to do something fast or I'd be nothing but a bloody paste. they where closing in and it would be now or never. I raised my hand outwards in front of me as if telling them to stop, of course, it didn't do anything. then i felt it, this surge of energy, this surge of power, it was like nothing i had ever felt. It pulsed through my body seemingly endlessly. with this...this...this strength i felt as if i could do anything i felt. but even tho i felt this feeling, nothing shocked me as much as what happened next


	7. Chapter 7 : the big bang

Chapter 7: the big bang

I just stood there, arm outstretched, waiting, and staring. staring at the army of skeletons that charged towards me with unyielding anger. Here i was alone, one man, set fight against this innumerable mass of the dead, by all means i should be running...but i wasn't. i just stood there, for what seemed like an eternity as the army continuously drew nearer. I was not afraid, no, it was much more of a sense of enjoyment. I could feel a pulse inside me, that wasn't my own. it was powerful, i had never felt such strength in my life, this feeling, this energy, what possible thing could have caused this. I didn't know, I didn't care, all I wanted to do was destroy that army. and thats when it happened. the most devastating attack that I have ever seen. and it came from me. I closed my eyes, the powerful voice which had saved my life began to speak. "A pathetic man such as yourself, does not deserve the gift of death," he said in an calm tone of voice. "censura flatus," he said in closing; and with that, the army was destroyed.

It was wondrous, never before had i seen such an attack. it caused tremors large enough to crush a skyscraper an attack able to wipe such a massive army off the face of the map. the kind of attack that only the legends from long ago could do. It was a blast, a wave, a beam the size as the army itself. it glowed with a white and blue light, as if angles themselves had come to slay them. The blast erupted from my hand with such a force that normally i would have been sent flying. But I didn't; still i just stood there still as a rock, with my hand outstretched, and this beam of blue light, seemingly the size of the desert itself, emanating from it. i could see the skeletons crumble away in this blaze of judgment, i could see the ground disintegrate before me, but most of all, thing i could see clearer than anything else, was the hatred of the man, his inextinguishable heart of hatred, burning strong with anger.

i walked across the desert floor, the stains of blood now covered by a fresh layer of sand. Everything was gone, nothing was left... nothing but the man. yes, even after that attack his hate and anger had kept him alive...barely. he was just laying there, wounded severely, bleeding everywhere, even his eyes. I could only imagine the pain that coursed through his body after such a thing. I stood in front of him with a feeling of satisfaction.  
"like I said, a pathetic man such as yourself doesn't deserve the gift of death."  
"hmmph, I wish i could say the same for you!" he said coughing up blood.  
then from behind i felt something stab me through the back. it plunged me through me, through my heart, through my lungs, through my ribs and through to the other side. i had been impaled by the one of his tentacles... but it didn't hurt. in fact, i didn't feel it at all.   
"why don't you die!" he said spewing up more blood as he spoke.  
"because...this is the might of the legendary ." then suddenly all of a sudden, things went black.

"Who are you?" I shouted with an upwards start. I was sitting in my room on my futon. sitting around me asleep, was Keitaro. "A dream?" I thought, breathing heavily. "I stared up at the moon outside my room. "was it all just a dream?" I whispered through the dark of my room. a cold sweat dripped down my head as I sat there in silents. "was it possible that all that i had just witnessed was a fabrication of my unconscious mind? no, it couldn't be." I sat there for what seemed like hours until suddenly a voice broke the silents from a dark corner in my room.  
"Care to explain what just happened?" it said, not moving from it's spot. i recognized it instantly "Motoko?" I whispered to the shadow.   
Motoko nudged herself out of the dark and sat in seiza before me.  
"First off," I said, attempting to get a grip of what just happened " what time is it? how long have I been out? and what happened on the out here while I was out?"  
"last time i checked i wasn't your slave, I have no need to take orders from you," she retorted stiffly with hint of anger.  
"that wasn't an order, they where just a few questions, just please cut the defiant crap for now and tell answer. suddenly, the answer dawned on me. me...it's hard to breath."  
Motoko let out a sigh, she knew now was not the time to act like she was.  
"it's the first hour of the day, you've been out for approximately 17 hours, and we found you unconscious behind the smashed wall of the storage closet."  
"seventeen hours!" I whispered  
"yes, at which you where running a fever of 120 degrees."  
"well it seems to have gone now."  
"apparently."  
The conversation ended and silents fell once again. had she stayed at my bed the whole time? how was it that i was unconscious for seventeen hours? how was it that I lived through an attack by the reaper? what was all that in my dream then? I was going to knock myself out again if I didn't find some answers soon. I looked up at Motoko as to ask a question but stopped before I said anything. I thought back to when I had been drowning in the pool of blood. To when then voice had asked me that question.

"do you wish smite those who'd harm those you love?" those words echoed in my ear for along time after words. Why had i said yes? why was it that Motokos image in my head was what caused me to answer. suddenly, the answer dawned on me.  
"I'm in love with her?" i whispered through the corner of my mouth.  
"did you say something?"  
I looked up at Motoko. she was dragging keitaro by the hand and was at my door. I blushed at her. she looked beautiful in the light of the moon. I looked down at my covers. was it possible? was It true? could it be true?  
"no," i said trying to hide my blushing face.  
"I'll take my leave then," she said looking down on me.  
"Uh one more thing!" i said quickly trying not to show my face.  
"make it quick," she said with a i wanna go now sound in her voice.  
"...th-t...thanks," i said my face going a deep crimson. "I know you stayed here by my bed all day an night, and i really appreciate it."  
now it was Motoko's turn to be embarrassed. her pale face went a deep red and she was unable to look me in the face.  
"I..it...I didn't do it for you," she said sticking her nose in the air.  
now I'm no expert on women, but i had gut feeling that she was lying.  
"right, in any case try to get some rest," i said with a hint of happiness in my voice.  
"hmmph!"  
And so she walked out of my room, dragging Keitaro behind her. answer. suddenly, the answer dawned on me.  
" what a bizarre turn of events," i said to myself. Could it be true? could I, who's life had never been anything but fighting and working, fall in love? just the very thought of it made me feel numb all over.

my mind suddenly diverted to a much more important matter at the current moment. who where those men? why did the reaper attack me? who is the blood bathed king? I figured it was pointless to worry about it at this time of night. I decided to let off some steam in the bath , it was probably best that i washed the swear off me. i began to change out of my shirt when something disturbed me. across my chest, lined in a row, looking like they had been cut into my chest...where four scars.


	8. Chapter 8 : writing on the wall

Chapter 8: 

I awoke the next morning drooling in my chair in front of the criminal database. Despite me saying that there was no point in worrying, after finding those scars, I couldn't help but spend the night in research. I had spent the night searching endlessly for explanations, and as usual I turned up empty handed. I groaned out of exhaustion pointlessly.  
"uugghh... why does...ugh...how come I never get any answers?"  
"It's because a perverted bastard like you tries to hard," a voice said from behind me.  
I turned around to find Naru standing, leaning against the doorway of my room.  
"mhmm, right, and to what do I owe this visit? Come to lecture me?"  
"you'd do well to shut up right now, and in any case I wanted to ask just what went on yesterday?"  
I groaned again, " ugh, yesterday... look I can't really explain it myself, no less to a mundane."  
"what did you!...forget it, whatever happened it spooked the whole inn, Shinobu was scared shit less. She was the one who found you knocked out and she came screaming to us saying you where dead, which I could only hope was true."  
"ouch, cold words there careful, you might hurt someone," I joked heading towards the door.  
"I'm serious, I think it's time you got your sorry ass out of here, you know as much as I do that you're dangerous" she said killing my fun.  
"I could say the same for you...and fortunately for me you don't make the decisions," I said as I passed by her out into the hall.

I was on my way down the hall, Naru tagging behind me, when suddenly I slipped on one of Su's many banana peels. upon stumbling though, I looked for a railing, but I found something much softer and squishier.  
"close one eh?" I said, gripping tighter to pull myself up. "Naru?" I said standing up right but still gripping my stabler. I looked at Naru to find that my stabler was in fact, her breasts (which i was gripping quite tightly). She glared at me with an anger I had never seen before. realizing my action i swiftly let go of her with the highest of speed. But still, the damage would done and I would pay. she clenched her fists which emanated death furrowed her eyebrows and let out her mighty battle cry. "YOU, FRIGGING, PERVERT!" she shouted at the top of her lungs; and once again I was launched into orbit.

"I swear, If her fist doesn't kill me, her attitude will," I said dunking my head under the hot water.

"sorry about that, she gets like that a lot," Keitaro said, soaping his hair.

"what do you mean?" I asked in a small bit of surprise. "she's you fiancée isn't she?"  
"true, but it's not like she listens to a word I say," he retorted, drooping his head slightly.  
I had chosen to take a bath after Naru nailed me in the face, it seemed appropriate since i found myself to smell of trash, and look like crap.  
"So you really don't know what happened?" Keitaro asked now sitting in the bath  
"Honestly? not really. my best guess is that it was some kind of spiritual possession maybe?"  
"Sounds like Motokos area of expertise, maybe you should get her to exorcise you?"  
"Like I said I don't really know, if it where a possession though I would think that Motoko would realize it. sigh... and thus ultimate confusion with no answers to be found."  
"Think it's something big?" said Keitaro, now drying off.

"most definitely, two things have happened now related to this king character, both of which potentially fatal."

"mhmm, well, good luck with all of that spirit jazz, but right now we gotta focus on fixing the giant crater Naru and you made."  
The word spirit hit me in the back of my head. Of course! how could I forget. One of my best friends' life was mostly if not entirely based on spirits! Yes, yes, yes! surely Asakura would have some level of knowledge about this. He would be my solution to all my questions...well most of them anyways.  
"sorry Keitaro!" I said with excitement in my voice, "I gotta meet someone so I can't help."  
"What! Oh man, come on!" Keitaro whined  
"just leave it for me okay, I promise I'll do it at ten times the speed when i get back."

And with that I ran down the stairs to arrange plans.  
"You forgot your..." Keitaro yelled from the end of the hallway.  
I didn't quite here the last part, but I soon found out what it was. In my excitement, I had totally forgotten about the fact that I wasn't wearing anything. But of course there to gently remind me was Motoko, who took pleasure in launching me straight up the stairs and out a window. "Even from space I could here her scream "HOW DARE YOU!" as I was once again brought back to earth by gravities pull.  
Once obtaining my clothes and obtaining a social calm with Motoko, I was on my way out the door.

Nothing, not even a million punches to the face could wreck my mood right now. I passed by the lounge and noticed a newspaper lying there on the table. Normally I'd pay no regard to such things but for some reason the title caught my eye. "Young Girl Abducted!" its grim title read. I don't know why it intrigued me so, these sort of things happened in the world everyday. The article showed a young girl, about the age of twelve, smiling like the innocent person she was.

I looked up from the newspaper, "Shinobu?!" i called to the kitchen.  
Shinobu poked her head out from the door way "uh...um...yes?" she replied shyly.

Shinobu is your stereotypical shy girl. Her skin is typical, she dresses very timidly, over reacts at the slightest upset, has blue hair, and is just not that great around new people. Not that I hate her, but personally I tend to dislike people like that; but Shinobu has a lot of redeeming qualities. First of all, once she's past the shyness she's a very nice person. Secondly she's good with house hold chores and actually enjoys them. She's respectful and always polite, and again, once past the shyness, she and be quite fun. Not to mention that now that she's beginning to mature mentally and physically, she's coming out of her shell and becoming a more open person. But lastly, her most redeeming quality by far, is her cooking. Such mastery of culinary skill I've yet to have any comparison. Surely her skill in the culinary arts makes up for all her bad traits...or it could be I just like food (when you have a job like mine you tend to forget to eat).

"Is this today's newspaper?" I responded. "Uh, yes, I-I think so," she said, still stuttering.

"Odd," I said to myself, for some reason. But as I said before, nothing could ruin this moment. I rushed down the stairs in a joyful run. Yoh Asakura, he would be the solution to my problems. He would hold they key I needed to figure this puzzle out. He would be the one who would guide me to the completion of my mission here. Yes, surely he, would have all the answers.

"What do you mean you don't have the answers!" I shouted, braking the regular sounds of downtown Tokyo. "Well I don't," Yoh said in his usual laid back position.  
"But you're the Shaman King! Shaman K-I-N-G! You'd think that it might be a requirement to know something them," I said shaking my head.  
"But I know do all about them, I mean did you know Amidamaru was a samuri?"  
"You know damn well what I mean!" I said waving my fist at the sky in anger. "why is it all I'm surrounded by is idiots," I said giving up in discontent.  
"Hey, chill out, you'll find the answer, you always do, you're the only one I know who works twenty four seven."

It was true, even being a traveler didn't mean you didn't have shifts, usually you have a squad or a partner and you alternate shifts doing various tasks required to complete the mission. But not I; I never really could handle the social interaction, and therefore have always worked a solo gig. Meaning a twenty four hour on the job service. It had its benefit, you learn more, you see more, you do more, but you have no one to share it with. In all meaning of the word, I really am a loner. It was a long story but in the end I decided never to take a partner again after, each one of my previous ones died horribly out of duty, to save my life. Never again would I have someone put down their life for me before I could for them.

I closed my eyes and let out a sigh. My disappointment must have been obvious, because I could sense that Yoh was feeling guilty.  
"Hey, no worries," I said feeling guilt myself. "Not your fault."  
"Right, anyways I need to go before Ana finds me," he said sinking his head lower.  
"She still set on being your bride?"  
"Like never before."  
We shared a quick laugh, and then headed our separate ways. It wasn't fair; it seemed no matter how hard I tried, some outside force was working against me. I was ready to portal back to hinata when I heard a scream.

"What is that thing?" I heard a random man shout out of the crowd.  
"It's disgusting!" another shouted  
I pushed my way to the front of the crowd and I saw something I really didn't need to. It was a black tar like ooze, beginning to consume the body of a man knocked unconscious. There was no doubt what this thing was, and I didn't like it. It was a Shadow.

Shadows are entirely black creatures of mystery. No one knows where they come from or how it's even possible they exist. They reproduce when they consume their prey; they become a blob like mass and slowly dissolve the person until it's nothing but bone by slowly oozing over it. At that point the shadow takes on the anatomy of whatever it absorbed and begins to split in two. Once split each half regenerates, resulting in the creation of a new shadow. They have no eyes, no mouth, and no ears, which makes it a wonder to how they manage to be so dangerous. When hunting they will stick to the darkness, though sunlight doesn't hurt them it damages their senses. When the opportune moment arises they manage to somehow literally transport themselves effortlessly and jump out of their preys' shadow. They are vicious fighters, and their bodies' reek of toxic fumes that make their opponent light headed or dizzy. On top of that, their bodies are practically invincible; the only way to damage them is via usage of divine spells, or Light ki.

It was disgusting to watch, but the man was already dead, and the fumes where to risky to get near.  
"RUN NOW! ITS GOING TO MULTIPLY!" I shouted instinctively into that crowd, and that seemed to be enough. People began fleeing the seen as fast as they could, some afraid, some finding a spot in which to watch from a safe distance. The shadow or shadows now looked at me, staring at me with their faceless human shaped heads.  
"Permissum meus manuum exsisto lux lucis subvertio obscurum," I muttered under my breath, and my hands began to glow with light. It was time to get busy.

As soon as the shadows sensed the danger I posed to them, they darted towards me lighting fast. Jumping to the air I attempted to flip over them, but was intercepted by the stretching hand of the second one.  
"Not on my watch," I said bailing from my flip.  
I grabbed the arm before it retracted with one hand and hit it dead on with the other. The hand instantly exploded and I fell to the ground with a perfect landing. Instantly from behind me the shadow swung a kick towards me, which I countered with a low blow to its leg. The shadow fell to the ground just in time for me to jump dodge the second shadow that had launched its regenerated hand at me. I just barely missed it, but then another hand was launched towards me. It nailed me square on in the chin and I was knocked back into the cement pillar of a building, leaving an imprint of my body there. Recovering swiftly, I jumped up in the air as to avoid the next strike that was aimed for my head.  
"Aer flatus," I said, and magically a concentrated blast of air knocked them back a couple of feet. Upon landing I punched the ground and shouted "silicis culmen frendo meus inimicus," and the ground began to shake. Suddenly huge pointed rock pillars shot themselves from out of the ground and hit the shadows square on. Now knocked in the air the shadows where helpless. Pointing my gaze towards them I shouted "veneficus telum of lux lucis smite malum pro mihi," and the instantly a giant glowing white arrow appeared. It shot itself towards the shadows with such speed I could not see it. But just when the arrow was to impact they both disappeared. Then, right out from behind me I smelt a disgusting smell that could only mean one thing. Nearly swooning I turned and quickly jumped back. The Shadow had jumped out of my shadow.  
"Close one," I said taking a breath. But I spoke to soon; from behind me I felt a crushing blow to my back. I fell to the ground, and was kicked in the head. This was not good, I had been flanked. What could I do now? Then I got an idea. The chances of it succeeding where statistically unlikely, but it was worth a shot.

I lay there on the ground, my eyes hollow, motionless. The Shadow slowly walked towards me, losing its figure and becoming a blob again. It was going to try to consume me. It seemed like forever as it slowly oozed its way towards me, but it did. And as it was about to reach my head, I acted.  
Jumping up from the ground I had myself ready in an instant, now was my time to strike.  
"Veneficus lux lucis, trucido obscurum quod purgo animus," I shouted, and smashed my fist into the black blob before it could take form.  
It was a good three seconds before anything happened. Then, suddenly there was a loud sucking noise and the shadow began to implode. In the next instant it was gone, and in its trail was an orb of light which promptly poofed itself out of existence.

I stood up properly and looked at my steaming hand. The damage was lessened but I could still feel my hand burning from the toxic compound of the monsters body.

Suddenly a black tentacle shot itself at me, missing my face by a centimeter. I ducked as it retracted, having it barely miss me once more. I darted back and looked at the shadow, which was already mid strike against me. Just then something smashed itself against my back…and stuck. I hit the ground hard, unable to move. There was a massive burning feeling in my back as my epidermis was being burnt. 

"Halo slash!!!" I heard a familiar call from behind me, and suddenly there was a white flash. The Shadow that had latched itself to me writhed in agony as it stumbled into an alley behind me. I shot up and chased it down into the alley, Yoh close behind me.

"Veneficus lux lucis, trucido obscurum quod purgo animus," I called once again, and just like the first one, the shadow imploded into nothing.

"Thanks for the save, life saver, literally." But Yoh did not here me, he was much to distracted gazing at the wall.

"What in the hell are you looking at?" I questioned looking at Yoh who still just gazed at the wall. He grabbed my head, and then with a force full flick, he turned my head towards the wall...  
I stood there, gawking in awe and disgust at what I saw. There in the back alley, on a brick wall, was a message, undoubtedly to me, written in blood.  
"Fill me once, set me free. The first sacrifice has been made." It read.  
"Coincidence?" Yoh said to me still gazing at the wall  
"not likely."


End file.
